Valentine's Day Special
by Killshea Kavani
Summary: A shortish AU Naruto ficlet in which all the genin are little kids at a boardingschoolorphanage. Hinted pairings and friendship fluff galore.


**A/N: **Okay, so this is just a cute little (day-late) Valentine's Day one-shot by Yami Kallima and Candelabra (Killshea Kavani is our new joint account). It's based in an AU Naruto, where they're all students at an orphanage/boarding school. And they're all little kids, so ... yeah. OOC-ness is justified. Heh. This is also pure fluff, with a few hinted pairings. No shounen-ai though, cos with kids that's ... just ... a little weird. O.o Be prepared for friendship fluff, though!

**Disclaimer:** Neither Yami Kallima nor Candelabra take credit for having created Naruto or its characters. We do, however, take credit for coming up with this idea! ... eeh, kinda. We were inspired by a Halloween picture. But this is basically our idea (we're pretty sure, at least), so ... yeah.

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The building was large, grey and imposing. It looked a little out of place among the skyscrapers and modern streets, with its brick walls and courtyard — something from a bygone era. In the courtyard, just beyond the gate, there was a small playground in which several children were playing. Because, despite all its severe and imposing nature, this building was a place many children called home and considered to be safe, as a boarding school and orphanage: The Konoha School and Orphanage. 

A bell rang, signaling the start of the new school day, and with some complaint the children filed in.

Inside, the school was covered in pink and red banners, white heart confetti stuck to the walls. Because, of course, today was the day that every little girl (well, most) looked forward to, and the day that every boy (again, most) dreaded.

Valentine's Day.

Already, the school's most desirable sweetheart, Sasuke Uchiha, was surrounded by girls and candy-grams. He did not look as though he were enjoying the attention. It was well-known that Sasuke preferred to be left on his own, though he was only eight, but his aloofness just added to his desirability.

He was one of the orphans, and had arrived only last September after the death of his parents. None of the children knew what had really happened, as it was kept hushed up by the staff members, but it was rumored that he still had an older brother somewhere.

"Sasuke, Sasuke, please open mine!" said one of the braver girls, a blonde by the name of Ino. The others were too shy to do anything other than dump their gifts and cards at his desks, but Ino had always had a rather go-get-it attitude. The fact that Sasuke said nothing and didn't even look up when she pressed the gift into his hand meant nothing to her — Sasuke had accepted her gift.

A few desks away, Naruto Uzumaki watched with envy as the other boy was swamped with gifts. None of the girls had given him anything, although Kiba Inuzuka and he had exchanged gifts and Rock Lee had given him a pair of weights ("So you can become strong!" He had said with his trademark grin and 'nice guy pose').

He glared at Sasuke as Sakura Haruno, a pink-haired girl that was one of the shyer ones around the moody boy dropped off her gift at his desk and blushed deeply. So intensely was he watching that he didn't notice when a little dark-haired girl came up behind him, bearing a single gift wrapped in a bright red ribbon.

Hinata Hyuuga was an oddity, in that she cared little for Sasuke — her object of affection was Naruto, who she found to be a great inspiration. She and her cousin Neji were here as students, although Neji was actually an orphan and had been adopted by Hinata's father only two years before.

"N-n-naruto ..." she stuttered, but at that moment, someone shouted her name.

"Hinata! I got you a card!"

She turned to see Kiba, a good friend of hers, holding out a card with a puppy in a heart on the front. "O-oh ... th-thank you, k-k-k-Kiba." she said, taking the card. He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly as she opened it to reveal the words inside: Be my Valentine!

"I don't mean, really," he said, anxious that she wouldn't get the wrong meaning. "I just ... kind of bought it at the last minute, it was the only one with a dog ..."

He trailed off. Naruto had turned around and Hinata was blushing madly as she handed him her present.

"Oh, thanks Hinata!" Kiba heard the blond say. "Wow, I didn't think to get you anything ... here you can have some of the chocolate Kiba gave me."

Kiba watched as Hinata, blushing even more deeply, accepted the chocolate 'Hershey's Kisses' that Naruto pushed into her hands.

"... and, yeah." he finished to himself. He turned away, feeling, for some reason, a little put out. It was probably because Naruto was giving away his chocolates. Yeah, that was it, it wasn't because Hinata — shy, kind, gentle Hinata — had just inadvertently brushed him off.

He almost smacked face-first into someone that he definitely did not want to cross — Gaara, youngest of the Sabaku siblings.

"Oh, sorry!" he said. Kiba shivered unconsciously as those dark-rimmed eyes looked at him, then beat a hasty retreat. He didn't notice the brief flash of pain over the redhead's face as he recoiled in fear.

Gaara said nothing as he passed the other boy, instead unconsciously clutching the object in his hand tighter than he intended.

"Naruto," he said quietly as he approached the blond, who looked up with surprise and some delight.

"Gaara!" he said, then looked down as the other boy placed something in his hand.

"What ... ?" he began, holding it up. Then he smiled. It was a small bottle with multicoloured swirls of sand in it and in the center the sand was made to look like the shape of a heart. "Thanks!" He said happily, "Hold on, I've got something for you, too."

Gaara looked on in mild surprise as Naruto rummaged through his desk. "I've got it somewhere in here." The blonde boy grumbled and looked around for a minute or so.

"Wait! I forgot it in my room." exclaimed Naruto, and he grabbed Gaara's hand. "Come on Gaara, it's break so we can quickly run up to my room and get your gift!"

He didn't wait for the redhead to respond before getting up and energetically bounding off towards the rooms, which was just as well as Gaara was far to shocked to say anything.

Once reaching the rooms Naruto quickly found Gaara's present despite the mess in his room, hiding it behind his back, Naruto made Gaara close his eyes as he placed the gift into Gaara's hands. Gaara opened his eyes and genuinly smiled as he saw a small book on how to make complicated sand castles.

"Thank you, Naruto." Gaara said, still smiling as he held the book close. Naruto smiled back as Gaara turned and left the room to head back to class, mask of inndiference falling back into place as he exited the room. Naruto stayed in his room for a little longer so he could find a place to put his gift from Gaara.

And when Naruto did return to the classroom he was surprised to find a gift with red wrapping paper and a white bow had been left on his desk. There was no tag for the name of who it had been left for, but on a small tag attached to the bow were the words 'From Sakura'.

A few desks a way a barely visible smile flickered across Sasuke's face as he watched a wide grin spread across Naruto's. The gift had been given to Sasuke, but he had no use for it as there had been so many given to him already --- instead, he gave it to Naruto, seeing as the boy was so obviously in love with the pinkhaired girl. But he could only leave it on the blond's desk when no one was looking --- after all, he didn't want to spoil his moody loner 'I-hate-everyone-especially-Naruto' image, did he?

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**A/N: **Thanks for reading, and please do review:) 


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